Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to audio teleconference management and more particularly to activating an audio teleconference.
Description of the Related Art
Audio teleconferencing is a technology in which different individuals participate in a group meeting via telephone connection to one another. First developed nearly sixty years ago as a business tool, audio teleconferencing once was considered an extremely costly tool. Today, however, the costs of audio conferencing have been reduced to very little and in some cases, there is no cost at all. In particular, the advent of the Internet and Internet protocol (IP) telephony now permits modestly robust teleconferencing as a feature integrated into standard telephony services.
Audio teleconferencing requires the establishment of a common point of termination for all telephonic signals for all participating parties to the audio teleconference. The establishment of the common point of termination can be accomplished through the use of a teleconference bridge. A teleconference bridge receives inbound and outbound telephone signals from a local telephone switch for each of the participants to different concurrently hosted audio teleconferences. Depending upon the structure of each audio teleconference, either a passcode entered by each attendee calling the bridge routes the call signal to the correct audio teleconference, or an operator manually routes the connection into the correct audio teleconference.
As it is well known, there are two basic types of conference calls: operator dial-out services and operator dial-in services. In an operator dial-out service, an audio teleconference call is planned in advance, and a specified number of lines are provisioned to support the audio teleconference for a specific duration of time. The customer provides the conference call service with the names and telephone numbers of all parties that are to attend the session. At the appointed time, a conference operator dials out to the attendees and places the callers into a common conference line. With this approach, the conference moderator is usually connected last.
In contrast, in a dial-in conference, attendees dial a specific telephone number to connect with the conference bridge. Upon connection, an automated message prompts the caller to enter a pre-assigned passcode for the audio teleconference. Once the correct passcode is entered, the attendee is automatically routed into the call. The moderator to the teleconference, however, is allotted a separate passcode and is granted administrative privileges in respect to the management of the audio teleconference.
In an audio teleconference, the audio teleconference begins as soon as a first caller enters the audio teleconference through dialing the correct passcode, or in the alternative, the audio teleconference begins only once the moderator provides the correct moderator passcode. In the latter instance, waiting callers must patiently and silently await the arrival of the moderator while listening to music in some cases. The inability for the already arrived callers to begin the audio teleconference can be a source of frustration and an inefficient use of time.